


Rooftop

by flooded_in_the_sky



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Mushy Feelings, Pre-Relationship, idk what else to tag this as
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 19:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11065320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flooded_in_the_sky/pseuds/flooded_in_the_sky
Summary: idk what happened but I was feelin shitty and decided to project onto fictional characters. it won’t make any sense and it’s not been proofread so just go with it.modernish au?? all I know is it’s not completely in canon but idk where/when it isthe title sucks. i know. it's the best i could come up with.





	Rooftop

Race felt useless. Jack was with Davey, probably, and definitely not answering his phone. Race had tried his number five times and sent twice that many texts. Now, sitting on the rooftop, he was staring down at the lights of the city, which were getting increasingly brighter with every passing minute. His phone was playing some random Imagine Dragons song, one he knew well enough to just drink everything in and tune out. Except for some reason, he felt it added to the feeling of nothing stuck in his gut. Race didn’t know how long he’d been up here, watching other people have lives. A creaking sound from below jolted him from his current reverie, and Race looked down to see none other than Spot Conlon coming up the old fire escape.

“What’re you doing? Brooklyn’s the other way!” Race yelled down, but Spot ignored him and kept coming up. “Spot! Have you gone deaf or somethin’?” Race yelled, with no response. Finally, Spot got up to the roof.

“Why’s you up here instead of down there? Why aren’t you out living?” Spot asked with a grin, but it quickly fell when he saw Race. “What’s wrong, Racetrack?”

“Everything. It just seems like now that the strike’s over, nobody really needs me anymore.” Race laid back, looking at the clouds painted with sunset.

“And what put that in your head?”

“Jack hasn’t answered me all day and nobody else even bothered to ask where I am.”

“You know how Jack gets when he’s with Davey. Of course, that’s no excuse. Maybe his phone died or something. But you’re his right hand man, Race. He wouldn’t just not answer you for no good reason. And plus, I’m here now. So let it out.” Spot laid back next to Race and felt their hands brush.

“It’s been like this ever since the strike, like I said. It feels like I could disappear and nobody would care. And I feel like it’s my own fault, a little. Before that I was kind of clingy just because I don’t exactly look like the best person to approach all the time and I like to do stuff knowing that I’ve got somebody to talk to, regardless of what it is. Even if it’s something as simple as going to the library or something stupid like that. Maybe I just got to the point where I finally didn’t need somebody for a while during the strike and then everybody thought I’d be fine without a second thought.” Spot was taken aback.

“Race, I, I just. I didn’t think this was what was going on. Ever since we’d met you seemed like this fireball of a person with no cares about what anyone thought. You were almost always so confident and when you weren’t, you obviously put on a brave face and kept going. You never faltered, never stopped. I’m sorry none of us noticed anything sooner.”

“There were bigger fish to fry. And I didn’t exactly make it obvious, like you said, either. But sometimes I get like this for a few days and then I get over it. Nothing important.” Race finished, playing with his phone case.

“It’s important to me, Race. You can’t just let this happen every so often and go it alone. That’s when you gotta bug somebody, whether it’s Jack or me, or whoever. Even if it seems hard or like we’re annoyed, it’ll be worth it.”

“Thanks, Spot. I needed to hear that.” Race seemed to loosen a bit, enough for their hands to brush awkwardly again. He froze a bit when Spot took his, but that didn’t last long. “I’ve got you. And I’m not letting go. Not for a long time.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a giant ham?” Race asked, smiling.

“Yeah, but if you told anybody else they’d never believe you.” Spot smirked.

“It’d be the biggest headline this city’s ever seen.”


End file.
